Single Barrel Aquaponics - Part 4 of 5

Its from below,, and using a straight pvc pipe as feed,, the water distribution to the growbed not done yet. Should be almost like the home kit water feed, with minor improvement.

I do away with ball valve for excess water and make a "saddle valve" to control water bleed off from pump to growbed as photo below shown at full open.

Photo below is at smaller opening... I need to make the hole bigger .. at full bypass

Reason for this "saddle valve " is to make it simple and cost saving, as this set is primarily for school project its best to make it cheap and simple.

To make the saddle valve all you need is a piece of PVC pipe about 2 ~ 3 inches and make a slit along its length. Shown below, saddle and a long PVC pipe assume as the water inlet pipe from pump to growbed.

Slit on saddle will make it grip the pipe and stay in position.. next install the saddle to the PVC pipe and make a hole.. across both the saddle and the PVC pipe in one go.. actually if require you can make more than one hole on the saddle valve.. then more water will be bypass thats all.

Walla... saddle valve complete... this type of valve is best to be use internally within fish tank so that any leak will just return to source and not make any serious water problem.

Ok water inlet done,, I decide to do it this way... get a piece of PVC end cap about 50mm / 2 inches.. drilled lots of holes and place it over the water inlet opening making a strainer.Note : After trial, its not a good thing to do feed from bottom, has change that on later posting.

If you want to make it cheaper a Nescafe jar cap will do.. or any cap that is big enough works great.. just make as many holes as you desire.

Aerator use is a small unit about 3 watt in power with only one outlet,, this aerator will be running 24/7, not worth to wire it up with additional circuit.

Its completed and as from above, siphon on left and water inlet on right done.

View from below the growbed, with water aerated and "saddle valve" done. This saddle valve I need to make its hole bigger, still insufficient bypass to prevent equilibrium flow. This mini siphon is too small and requires very little water for its operation.

Selamat Datang

I am an Aquaponics Enthusiast from Malaysia. My involvement with Aquaponics started few years back moving from water gardening, ornamental fish keeping and from necessities to keep plants alive in concrete jungle we live in.

Urban Agrostyle specializing in Media Based Flood & Drain Aquaponics using siphon, producing vegetables and fish for household use in the small space that I have. Ornamental Aquaponics is another area of aquaponics that I am looking at with working prototype that currently in use.

I did made some design improvement to the aquaponics siphon making it reliable and as such that it is an "install and forget" item in the system.

This blog is about my daily activities in Aquaponics, trying new things, improving on old or just routine work that I do. It will also be some blunders that happens occasionally, so that it will be a lesson learned and not repeated.

I don't do Aquaponics on a commercial scale because it requires different level of expertise, settings and support equipment, therefore I will not reply any query on it.

Thank you and do enjoy your visit and hope it’s beneficial to both you and me.